Why Demand For a Union Territory is Gaining Strength in Assam's Barak Valley

The politics of Assam and the Assamese language have mostly been centred around the Brahmaputra Valley. The Barak Valley, where a movement demanding a Union Territory continues to brew, has largely been left out of discussions on language.

The Barak Valley consists of three districts in southern Assam—Cachar, Hailakandi, and Karimganj. Cachar and Hailakandi were territories administered and ruled by the erstwhile Cachari Kingdom.

Karimganj was a part of Sylhet which was bifurcated at the time of Partition. The Hindu Majority of Sylheti-speaking Bengalis opted to remain in India at the time.

Sylhet back then included Cachar, which in turn consisted of present day Cachar, Hailakandi, and Karimganj. At present, the three districts of the Barak Valley have a significant Bengali-speaking population. Cachar and Hailakandi also have populations of Bishnupuriya Manipuris as well as Meiteis, Tripuris, and other Cachari tribes.

What led to these districts hosting a significant Bengali-speaking population is a direct fallout of the language movement in Assam. In 1960, the then state government in Assam passed a Bill which made Assamese the sole official language in the state. This led to protests from the Bengali population across Assam and clashes ensued.

The violence displaced Bengali speakers from different parts of Assam, primarily from around the Brahmaputra Valley. Some of the displaced Bengali speakers settled in West Bengal. Others made their way to the Barak Valley, where they settled in the three districts. At the time, the protests that erupted in Silchar at the railway station, saw 11 people shot dead by Assam Rifles personnel.

It is therefore not implausible that a general feeling of neglect exists among the people of the Barak Valley, given their linguistic alienation. What makes the ongoing movement for Union Territory status in the Barak Valley  interesting is that it is largely based on the Bengali language.

The erstwhile undivided Sylhet had Sylheti as the main language of the area. Sylheti has often been classified as a dialect of Bengali, yet the language has its own unique script whose origin has also been hotly debated. As of 2007, it has been estimated that there are roughly 1.1 crore native speakers of Sylheti on both sides of the border. With most Sylheti speakers being bilingual, one can see how the Bengali linguistic solidarity has taken precedence over a Sylheti-based linguistic movement.

Communalism remains a potent factor in the Barak Valley. Though the Valley at the time of Partition had a significantly higher Hindu population, due to rising ethno-linguistic tensions in Assam, the Valley now also has a significant Muslim population. What complicates this further is the NRC and the Citizenship Bill.

While the NRC seeks to determine the citizenship of Assam’s residents, the Citizenship Bill seeks to grant religion-based citizenship to illegal non-Muslim immigrants from three countries. A point to note is that the Barak Valley had the highest number of names left out of the draft NRC. It is also the region that has had a high number of people repeatedly harassed by the police in the name of the Foreigner Tribunals.

It is known that the Citizenship Bill has been hotly opposed by Assamese civil society groups. If the Citizenship Bill were to pass, the situation in the Barak Valley may turn very ugly very quickly.